Globalization

Economic globalization has had an impact on the worldwide integration of different cultures. Shown here is a steel plant in the United Kingdom owned by the Indian company Tata Group.
Globalization in a literal sense is international integration.[1] It can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society and functioning together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, sociocultural and political forces.[2] Globalization, as a term, is very often used to refer to economic globalization, that is integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and spread of technology.[3] The word globalization is also used, in a doctrinal sense not a literal one, to describe the neoliberal form of economic globalization.[4] Globalization is also defined as the internationalization of everything related to different countries; Internationalization however, as a contrasted phenomenon, differs from globalization in that Global is commonly used as a synonym for "international", however such usage is typically incorrect as "global" implies "one world" as a single unit, while "international" (between nations) recognizes that different peoples, cultures, languages, nations, borders, economies, and ecosystems exist.
The process of globalization had its origins in Europe, through the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, and English territorial and maritime expansion into all habitable continents, and included the discovery and colonization of the New World. The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friendman, "examines the impact of the 'flattening' of the globe, an international leveling of business competition enabled by increasing interconectedness. Friedman argues that globalized trade, outsourcing, offshoring, supply-chaining, and six other economic, technological, and political forces have changed the world permanently. He examines the positive and negative effects flattening has had and will continue to have on global politics and business.[5]
Contents
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1 History
2 Recent evolutions
3 Measuring globalization
4 Effects of globalization
5 Pro-globalization (globalism)
6 Anti-globalization (mundialism)
7 References
8 Further reading
9 See also
10 External links
[edit] History

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The word "globalization" has been used by economists since 1981; however, its concepts did not permeate popular consciousness until the later half of the 1990s. The earliest concepts and predictions of globalization were penned by an American entrepreneur-turned-minister Charles Taze Russell who first coined the term 'corporate giants' in 1897. [4] Various social scientists have tried to demonstrate continuity between contemporary trends of globalization and earlier periods.[6] The first era of globalization (in the fullest sense) during the 19th century was the rapid growth of international trade between the European imperial powers, the European colonies, and the United States. After World War II, globalization was restarted and was driven by major advances in technology, which led to lower trading costs.
Globalization in its largest extent began a bit before the turn of the 16th century, in Portugal. The country's global adventurism in the 16th century linked continents, economies and cultures as never before. The then Kingdom of Portugal kicked off what has come to be known as the Age of Discovery, in the mid-1400s. The westernmost country in Europe, was the first to significantly probe the Atlantic Ocean, colonizing the Azores, Madeira and other Atlantic islands, then braving the west coast of Africa. In 1488, Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was the first to sail around the southern tip of Africa, and in 1498 his countryman Vasco da Gama repeated the experiment, making it as far as India. The Portuguese Empire would establish ports, forts and trading posts as far west as Brazil, as far east as Japan and Timor, and along the coasts of Africa, India and China. For the first time in history, a wave of global trade, colonization, and enculturation reached all corners of the world.
Globalization is viewed as a centuries long process, tracking the expansion of human population and the growth of civilization, that has accelerated dramatically in the past 50 years. Early forms of globalization existed during the Roman Empire, the Parthian empire, and the Han Dynasty, when the silk road started in China, reached the boundaries of the Parthian empire, and continued onwards towards Rome. The Islamic Golden Age is also an example, when Muslim traders and explorers established an early global economy across the Old World resulting in a globalization of crops, trade, knowledge and technology; and later during the Mongol Empire, when there was greater integration along the Silk Road. Global integration continued through the expansion of European trade, as in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Portuguese and Spanish Empires reached to all corners of the world after expanding to the Americas.
Globalization became a business phenomenon in the 17th century when the Dutch East India Company, which is often described as the first multinational corporation, was established. Because of the high risks involved with international trade, the Dutch East India Company became the first company in the world to share risk and enable joint ownership through the issuing of shares: an important driver for globalization.
Liberalization in the 19th century is sometimes called "The First Era of Globalization" a period characterized by rapid growth in international trade and investment, between the European imperial powers, their colonies, and, later, the United States. It was in this period that areas of sub-saharan Africa and the Island Pacific were incorporated into the world system. The "First Era of Globalization" began to break down at the beginning with the first World War, and later collapsed during the gold standard crisis in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
[edit] Recent evolutions

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Globalization in the era since World War II was first the result of planning by economists, business interests, and politicians who recognized the costs associated with protectionism and declining international economic integration. Their work led to the Bretton Woods conference and the founding of several international institutions intended to oversee the renewed processes of globalization, promoting growth and managing adverse consequences.
These were the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank) and the International Monetary Fund. It has been facilitated by advances in technology which have reduced the costs of trade, and trade negotiation rounds, originally under the auspices of GATT, which led to a series of agreements to remove restrictions on free trade.
Since World War II, barriers to international trade have been considerably lowered through international agreements - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Particular initiatives carried out as a result of GATT and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), for which GATT is the foundation, have included:
Promotion of free trade:
Reduction or elimination of tariffs; construction of free trade zones with small or no tariffs
Reduced transportation costs, especially from development of containerization for ocean shipping.
Reduction or elimination of capital controls
Reduction, elimination, or harmonization of subsidies for local businesses
Restriction of free trade:
Harmonization of intellectual property laws across the majority of states, with more restrictions.
Supranational recognition of intellectual property restrictions (e.g. patents granted by China would be recognized in the United States)
The Uruguay round (1984 to 1995) led to a treaty to create the World Trade Organization (WTO), to mediate trade disputes and set up a uniform platform of trading. Other bi- and multilateral trade agreements, including sections of Europe's Maastricht Treaty and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have also been signed in pursuit of the goal of reducing tariffs and barriers to trade.